About Town: 05-07-19

Stamp Out Hunger on Saturday

HONOLULU — More than 175,000 mail carriers across the nation will lead the Postal Service’s effort to “Stamp Out Hunger” by collecting food donations across the Big Island and in cities and towns across the country on Saturday during the 27th annual National Association of Letter Carriers’ Food Drive.

The drive is the nation’s largest one-day effort to combat hunger and is held to support the mission of community food banks such as the Hawaii Foodbank. Last year, more than 34,000 pounds of food was collected on Hawaii Island, led by the 22,436 pounds collected by the Hilo Post Office. Statewide, Hawaii carriers collected more than 479,000 pounds of food. Nationwide, more than 71 million pounds of food were collected last year; 1.6 billion pounds of food have been collected during the campaign’s first 26 years.

Residents are urged to place non-perishable food items next to their mailboxes for pickup on Saturday before their usual mail pickup time. Mail carriers will transport the donations back to their post offices where postal employees and volunteers will sort the food and deliver it to their nearest community food banks. post offices without residential delivery will be collecting items in their offices during the days leading up to Saturday.

The Hawaii Foodbank, through its network of island food banks and their local food pantries and meal programs, provides food assistance to more than 123,000 households statewide. Approximately 287,000 Hawaii residents, including 47,894 keiki and more than 46,000 kupuna, receive such assistance.